It is often desirable to warm or cool all or a portion of the body of a human or animal subject. For example, it is sometimes desirable to cool a febrile patient or to warm a hypothermic patient. Also, for example, it is sometimes desirable to induce therapeutic hyperthermia or hypothermia for the purpose of treating a disorder.
Sepsis is a systemic inflammatory response and impaired circulation to provide blood and oxygen to vital organs of the body. Sepsis can result from microbial infections as well as non-infectious causes such as hemorrhagic shock, immune-mediated organ injury, ischemia, multiple trauma, tissue injury and the administration of inflammatory cytokines during cancer chemotherapy. The term “septicemia” refers to sepsis that results from microbes that are identified in circulating blood.
Patient's suffering from sepsis typically display two or more of the following symptoms:                fever or hypothermia        tachycardia (e.g., heart rate >90 beats per minute)        tachypnea (e.g., respiratory rate >20 breaths per minute or a PaCO2 of less than 32 mm Hg        leukocytosis (e.g., WBC >12,000/mm3), leucopenia (e.g., WBC <4,000/mm3 or bandemia (e.g., >10 percent immature (band) forms).        
Many patients suffering from sepsis also exhibit hypotension after an initial fluid challenge as well as a confused mental state.
In the United States alone, it has been estimated that sepsis causes the hospitalization of over 700,000 people per year, with a mortality rate of approximately 30%. In severe cases, sepsis can result in life threatening septic shock. About 45 percent of patients with sepsis progress to septic shock. In sepsis cases that progress to septic shock, the patient's circulation fails to supply enough blood and oxygen to vital organs, such as the kidneys and the brain. Septic shock remains a significant cause of death in the United States. Moreover, the incidence of sepsis and septic shock is on the rise. Such rise in the incidence of sepsis and septic shock is believed to be due to the growing elderly population, performance of increasing numbers of major surgical procedures, increased use of immunosuppressive and chemotherapeutic agents, increased prevalence of chronic debilitating conditions, increased use of invasive or implantable medical devices and increases in antibiotic resistant microbes.
Infections originating almost anywhere in the body can cause sepsis and, potentially, septic shock. Most cases of septic shock arise from infections that have originated in the lungs, kidney, or gastrointestinal tract. In some cases, the original source of the infection cannot be identified.
Septic shock can result in death. Even patients who survive septic shock sometimes suffer irreversible damage to the lungs, heart, kidneys, brain, and other organs due to the may occur.
There remains a need in the art for the development of new therapies for sepsis, septic shock and other inflammatory or infectious conditions which can result in shock, hypoxia and/or ischemia.